What It Means to Defund Police (VIDEO SCRIPT)

(Reads Zimbardo’s “The Lucifer Effect”) Oh! Sorry. Didn’t see you there! (Puts book down) Hi. My name is La’Ron Readus. And I want you to know what it means to defund police

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With everything that is currently going on in the world, one thing is absolutely certain; the world has been going to shit long before 2020.

While 2020 brought the current health and safety crisis to the nation is under within the first quarter of the year, protests against the history of racial profiling and police brutality that has plagued the country since its conception have been happening since 2013

It wasn’t until the death of George Floyd by the knee of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin in said plague-infested year, that the protests against racial injustice by the hands of law enforcers began the demand of not just civil rights, but limiting the amount of resources accessible to police departments around the country as an ample way of addressing the problem at its source.

Thus the phrase Defund the Police was born.

Ever since its conception, there have been a spread of misinformation and worry about what such an action will mean.

And just like the riots, the police car fires, and the property damage that happened since the 2020 protests began, the original spread of said misinformation and worry was started by racist white folk, surprising no one.

Because of said misinformation, along with the city council of Minneapolis making the decision to gradually take steps to abolish its police force completely as of June 2020, people think that defunding the police means getting rid of police entirely, are concerned that there will be a lack of individuals to enforce the law, and/or crime will run rampant due to the lack of resources.

So allow me to set those of you worried about what this means for your safety, if and when the movement of defunding the police reaches your city

And the first thing you must realize is that defunding the police does NOT mean getting rid of police completely

It means exactly what the word states: Defund

/Which means to prevent from continuing to receive funds/

The majority of police departments in cities across the United States are funded by the distribution of fiscal funds by city councils, who either decide to raise or lower the budgets of certain services and programs annually.

As of 2020, the American city with the highest budget for law enforcement is New York, with over 5.5 billion dollars. Los Angelels, CA and Chicago, IL respectively take 2nd and 3rd place, both over 1.5 billion

And if you think that some of these budgets are absolutely ridiculous and could be used elsewhere in the cities they represent, you would be absolutely correct

Especially considering that the majority of these police departments in question have access to high-grade tanks, protective gear, and high caliber rifles from various military programs that are meant for warfare. Not city-wide law enforcement.

Making cuts to the budgets of police departments of major cities with access to such unnecessary and highly escalative equipment is absolutely reasonable in this regard, and a good first step in a city council taking the demand for defunding the police seriously.

The next step would be to reevaluate the amount of officers needed per department and reduce the amount of officers on said payroll via layoffs and terminations.

One way of doing this is by establishing a ratio of officers to citizens via Census results according to city neighborhoods and districts that’s both reasonable and non-overwhelming to the area.

Once that number is established, an evaluation of individuals who already are part of or wish to join the police force in question must take place, in order to remove those with extreme prejudices and lack of moral judgement from the payroll, and to keep those with said tendencies from joining in order to meet these new numbers.

That way those with the argument of there being a few bad apples in their “not all cops” debate, can promptly shut the fuck up.

By making these small changes, the councils of various cities across the United States can promptly cut one-third -- if not one half -- of their budget or more on law enforcement

Freeing up their fiscal budget to invest in other things that would help aid in the growth of communities and neighborhoods that caused the justification of raising the policing budget in the first place

Things like proper public housing for the homeless and both low-income families and individuals by holding landlords responsible for blighted neighborhoods accountable.

Proper funding for public school systems that rival that of their suburban counterparts.

New after-school activities and programs for the inner city youth, and proper funding for the ones that already exist.

Basically any and every way possible to discredit the argument these racist white folk like to make regarding the so-called “existence” of black-on-black crime.

Now I know for some of you, all of this might seem too good to be true. I, however, am here to assure you that all of this is obtainable.

As I stated earlier, the distribution of annual fiscal budgets for cities nationwide are in the hands of city council members.

City council members are also responsible for aiding the elected mayor in making important decisions, such as choosing a chief of police.

And, like the position of mayor, city council members are elected by the people.

However, they can only be elected by individuals who reside in the division -- or ward -- of the city they wish to represent.

So in order to establish a city council that is on board with investing in solutions to the previously mentioned problems that drive up the law enforcement budget to begin with by defunding its city police department in order to eliminate its inner workings of corruption, racial prejudice, abuse of power and unnecessary spending

One must find proper representatives that wish to see such changes made in their communities via research and candidate stances, and vote them into the council on their respective election dates.

Or, if there are no candidates within your division that seek these goals in mind, as long as you’re 18 years of age or older

Are both a US citizen and a citizen of the state the city in question resides in

Avoid conflicts of interests, and are both registered to vote and live in the district you wish to represent, you can visit your city clerk and run for your division’s city council seat yourself.

To quote Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

So in order for us to see the good flourish from this movement, we all have to do our part.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to watch this PSA about what it means to defund the police.

I hope you now have a better understanding of what the redistribution of these funds in other areas of a community can mean for the good of the city if done correctly

And if you’re an individual invested in private prisons and support the overfunding and racial discrimination of police departments across the country because the incarceration of minorities across this nation helps fill your pockets, I hope you’re ready for what’s about to happen to you (pulls out knife and smiles). Because I sure am